Also, pretty funny that they specified how NASDAQ could pay them the ten million dollars: check, money order, or pay.gov. I like the image of the NASDAQ CEO logging on to the website and entering his credit card information or whatever.

HFT needs to be banned. It gives the big brokerages a hopelessly unfair advantage against the individual investor and as history has shown (2010 Flash Crash) can quickly grow into a nearly uncontrollable disaster that can bring down an entire market.

Edit: I am a personally conservative libertarian that normally dislikes government regulation but even I can see the inequity and potential for disaster in HFT,

HFT isn't a iproblem. Anyone can run HFT programs. The real problem is that not every trader gets a sub-5ms hardline to the servers to play with. That's the real issue here. I'm surprised the fine isn't higher and doesn't have a 'must upgrade server' attachment clause to it really. Then again I'm sure they aren't expecting another Facebook level IPO to go public anytime soon.

HFT isn't a iproblem. Anyone can run HFT programs. The real problem is that not every trader gets a sub-5ms hardline to the servers to play with. That's the real issue here. I'm surprised the fine isn't higher and doesn't have a 'must upgrade server' attachment clause to it really. Then again I'm sure they aren't expecting another Facebook level IPO to go public anytime soon.

What economic harm would the economy in general suffer if trading were executed in regular ticks of, say, 1 minute? Collect the orders, execute first in first processed (or possibly randomize the order to mitigate the effect of big players sniping at the last second), and then start collecting orders until the next tick.

You'd gain real human oversight and time for individual brokerages or the exchange at large to press their respective big red buttons if something breaks. The paper trail would also be far more auditable in determining what happened when disputes arise.

HFT isn't a iproblem. Anyone can run HFT programs. The real problem is that not every trader gets a sub-5ms hardline to the servers to play with. That's the real issue here. I'm surprised the fine isn't higher and doesn't have a 'must upgrade server' attachment clause to it really. Then again I'm sure they aren't expecting another Facebook level IPO to go public anytime soon.

What economic harm would the economy in general suffer if trading were executed in regular ticks of, say, 1 minute? Collect the orders, execute first in first processed (or possibly randomize the order to mitigate the effect of big players sniping at the last second), and then start collecting orders until the next tick.

You'd gain real human oversight and time for individual brokerages or the exchange at large to press their respective big red buttons if something breaks. The paper trail would also be far more auditable in determining what happened when disputes arise.

What would you lose?

Just because the trades happen on the millisecond scale doesn't mean they aren't logged.

HFT isn't a iproblem. Anyone can run HFT programs. The real problem is that not every trader gets a sub-5ms hardline to the servers to play with. That's the real issue here. I'm surprised the fine isn't higher and doesn't have a 'must upgrade server' attachment clause to it really. Then again I'm sure they aren't expecting another Facebook level IPO to go public anytime soon.

What economic harm would the economy in general suffer if trading were executed in regular ticks of, say, 1 minute? Collect the orders, execute first in first processed (or possibly randomize the order to mitigate the effect of big players sniping at the last second), and then start collecting orders until the next tick.

You'd gain real human oversight and time for individual brokerages or the exchange at large to press their respective big red buttons if something breaks. The paper trail would also be far more auditable in determining what happened when disputes arise.

What would you lose?

Just because the trades happen on the millisecond scale doesn't mean they aren't logged.

HFT isn't a iproblem. Anyone can run HFT programs. The real problem is that not every trader gets a sub-5ms hardline to the servers to play with. That's the real issue here. I'm surprised the fine isn't higher and doesn't have a 'must upgrade server' attachment clause to it really. Then again I'm sure they aren't expecting another Facebook level IPO to go public anytime soon.

What economic harm would the economy in general suffer if trading were executed in regular ticks of, say, 1 minute? Collect the orders, execute first in first processed (or possibly randomize the order to mitigate the effect of big players sniping at the last second), and then start collecting orders until the next tick.

You'd gain real human oversight and time for individual brokerages or the exchange at large to press their respective big red buttons if something breaks. The paper trail would also be far more auditable in determining what happened when disputes arise.

What would you lose?

Just because the trades happen on the millisecond scale doesn't mean they aren't logged.

Which neatly dodges the question about what this destabilizing practice which has a proven ability to cause damage to the economy actually contributes to anyone except folks trying to skim money from the people who actually want to buy/sell securities.

Seriously, exchanges and market-maker positions are supposed to be set up in the public interest. What good does HFT do for people who want to want to buy, sell, or hold securities?

HFT isn't a iproblem. Anyone can run HFT programs. The real problem is that not every trader gets a sub-5ms hardline to the servers to play with. That's the real issue here. I'm surprised the fine isn't higher and doesn't have a 'must upgrade server' attachment clause to it really. Then again I'm sure they aren't expecting another Facebook level IPO to go public anytime soon.

What economic harm would the economy in general suffer if trading were executed in regular ticks of, say, 1 minute? Collect the orders, execute first in first processed (or possibly randomize the order to mitigate the effect of big players sniping at the last second), and then start collecting orders until the next tick.

You'd gain real human oversight and time for individual brokerages or the exchange at large to press their respective big red buttons if something breaks. The paper trail would also be far more auditable in determining what happened when disputes arise.

What would you lose?

Not even every minute but every hour or once a day. Set an hourly price that can only vary by a maximum set % of the total value every hour and then all buy and sell orders are executed and new prices calculated.

Also ban shorting a stock and presto, you do away with all the parasites which contribute nothing to the economy and just live by playing what is essentially an informed lottery. Anyone trying to make money out of fluctuations in price of a stock over periods of seconds or is betting on the fact that a company is going to do badly isn't contributing to that company or to the economy.

I have always believed that buying stocks in a company should mean you believe in that companies future and want to invest in it (obviously getting some return as it is an investment)

HFT isn't a iproblem. Anyone can run HFT programs. The real problem is that not every trader gets a sub-5ms hardline to the servers to play with. That's the real issue here. I'm surprised the fine isn't higher and doesn't have a 'must upgrade server' attachment clause to it really. Then again I'm sure they aren't expecting another Facebook level IPO to go public anytime soon.

What economic harm would the economy in general suffer if trading were executed in regular ticks of, say, 1 minute? Collect the orders, execute first in first processed (or possibly randomize the order to mitigate the effect of big players sniping at the last second), and then start collecting orders until the next tick.

You'd gain real human oversight and time for individual brokerages or the exchange at large to press their respective big red buttons if something breaks. The paper trail would also be far more auditable in determining what happened when disputes arise.

What would you lose?

Not even every minute but every hour or once a day. Set an hourly price that can only vary by a maximum set % of the total value every hour and then all buy and sell orders are executed and new prices calculated.

Also ban shorting a stock and presto, you do away with all the parasites which contribute nothing to the economy and just live by playing what is essentially an informed lottery. Anyone trying to make money out of fluctuations in price of a stock over periods of seconds or is betting on the fact that a company is going to do badly isn't contributing to that company or to the economy.

I have always believed that buying stocks in a company should mean you believe in that companies future and want to invest in it (obviously getting some return as it is an investment)

Shorting stock ends up with the stock in the hands of someone who believes it will go up in value. The person shorting a stock simply bets that they're wrong. But it's no more gambling than investing in a corporation you believe in: they are both simply betting that the price will be at a certain place in the future, based on what you know about the company.